Category: Opinion

As a token of condolences, the world renowned artist Jeff Koons donated a monumental sculpture titled “Bouquet of Tulips” to France in wake of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. As a gift to the victims and their families, the statue is intended to be in the center of the city and widely recognizable as a Jeff Koons piece. In the artwork, an arrangement of flowers are held high by a caucasian fist as a nod to the Statue of Liberty located in New York City. The people of France gifted us kindly with it in 1886 and America now is returning the favor.

However, many are saying that Koons’ donation to the French is closer to self-promotion than commemoration. The site of the artwork is not even remotely close to the location of the attack, the Bataclan concert hall and its surrounding restaurants where terrorists killed 130 people and wounded hundreds. In fact, the piece is supposed to be placed beside the Palais de Tokyo, a space solely dedicated to young emerging artists–which Koons is certainly not.

While I disagree for the most part, I do see where the french artists are coming from in saying that it is a selfish and disrespectful act. With US President Trump and French President Macron at great odds on the subject of climate change, it is important to handle our historic alliance with care. Koons’ efforts are only an extension of the artist’s and the states’ gratitude in remaining by our side. Artists are often regarded as brash and presumptuous, but just because they are seen that way does not mean their intentions are like so. It’s like seeing someone with a bad case of RBF and automatically assuming they’re a she-dog.

The tulips are a symbol of optimism, “universal values that the US and France share,” as Koons told the french morning newspaper, Le Figaro, back in 2016. In that same article, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, described the gift as “a beautiful and generous gesture, which testifies to the very strong friendship between our two countries,” and explained that “Those who explain that Jeff Koons is not a great artist are the same ones who dedicated him as such.”

Although Koons is keen on following through with his French-installation art, the people of France have been hesitant to accept his gift with open arms. Critics in the art industry and beyond have largely balked at the massive structure and there is a definite possibility of the piece not ending up on foreign soil at all.

2017 brought a lot of Hollywood’s sexual predators to light, a good amount of previously respectable men lost their jobs. Women by the dozen each came forward with stories of sexually and physically assault that have been kept under wraps for decades. The #MeToo movement and the #TimesUp movement have helped many women feel supported enough to share their experiences in hopes of finally seeing justice be made. To show their own support for the movement, The Golden Globe Awards, on their 75th year, decided to set a dress code, all black attire. The dress code was meant to showcase solidarity for the women who have experienced physical and sexual assault or abuse. It was also done to promote racial and gender equality in show business.

Though their hearts and wardrobes were in the right place, not much can be gained from the color of someone’s $20,000 dress. Not much was said about these important issues during the event, other than Oprah’s uplifting that’s-why-we-love-her speech. Actors and actresses who have worked with well known creeps wore black even though they don’t care about the message behind it. Justin Timberlake and Emma Stone both wore black and spoke on how men in charge in Hollywood shouldn’t abuse their power. Pretty ironic considering they both starred in Wonder Wheel, which was directed by Woody Allen, a well known child molester, who still works and is very successful in film.

Stars didn’t wear black because they wanted to show their support, but because they were afraid of being otherwise shamed. If we really want to give women more freedom and power, we should stop talking and do it! There is this false sense of progress, when nothing is really changing. All we keep seeing are small, insignificant forms of protest being hyped up by people who could actually spark change but won’t. Women are still being criticized because of what they wear and perverted, abusive men are still very much in charge. Firing a few actors because of allegations isn’t the right way to go. The media claims they want change but will ignore doing anything constructive. These “protests” are an easy gimmick to allow the film industry to pat themselves on the back for being “so progressive”, when in reality nothing will change until we change what we watch. The industry has been like this forever. The first films Shirley Temple starred in are too disturbing to watch. A four-year-old girl playing a prostitute with a full grown man and nobody bats an eye. It’s more than just women speaking up, what’s the point when everyone hears but nobody is actually listening?

New Year, New Me. It’s 2018, this is my year. It’s about that time of year again. I can feel it all around. People are going to work out more next year!  Learn how to cook, be adventurous, put themselves out there more, find a boyfriend, find a girlfriend, have no more regrets, create memories, blah blah blah. “New year, new me.” It’s time to make a change, no more complaining, do something about it.

I’ve set goals for myself and I have a whole year ahead of me to do something about it. I spent last year doing a lot of soul searching. I was able to find myself and grow as a person. This year I’m committing to my resolutions. I don’t have a whole list of things to change because I find that having so much to resolve only results in accomplishing one or two. In 2018, I’m achieving my goal to be stronger and healthy, both mentally and physically. Start off small, then end the year with a BANG!

Three things to remember: First, accountability. In order to truly change and reach some of your New Year’s goals, you really need a partner. Someone that will give you a good slap when you cheat yourself. Someone that will make you accountable throughout your journey to achieving a goal. That can be a friend, family member, or your advisor. This person can be the one to remind you of your goals and motivate you to stick with it. Second, commitment. It’s going to require you stick with it all year. That means every day of the year. For example, if you’re planning on get fit and healthy this year, ease into going into the gym. Rather than going for 4 days in a row then wearing yourself out where you get unmotivated and lazy. You’ll have to decide what you want and what you want to give up to get it. It will be worth it, just like losing twenty pounds. Finally, habits. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. You cannot expect to make progress if you’re doing things the same way you did last year. Think about it, are you still in the same position? It’s probably because you haven’t broken those bad habits.

This is our time to grow. 2018 will be filled with positivity and happiness. To achieve this we are breaking habits and sticking to our agenda, which is reaching these goals. Set daily reminders! Get organized. Make this year yours!

Imagine a world where we focused on the positive instead of the negative. Yes, a lot of negative events have taken place recently, but there is some good in the world. We always focus on the negative. There can be someone who does greater good for the world, but society will only pinpoint the one bad thing that person did from years ago. For example, Instagram people who do ridiculous things on Instagram. SUPREME PATTY, has gained popularity by squirting lemon in his eyes, endangering himself by eating the hottest pepper in the world, jumping off of roofs, and sometime disturbing the peace by making a mess in stores. He may be a hooligan, but he also gives back to the community by passing out food and clothing to the homeless. If we focused on things like that and started spreading positivity, the world could advance as a community. Yes people have flaws but they also have perks, they have attributes that allow them to contribute to others. I will admit, some things may be too big to look past, but think of it this way, if it doesn’t conflict with your life or that of someone close to you, you shouldn’t make that big of a deal out of it. So stop being negative and look on the bright side.

So for anyone who hasn’t heard about Logan Paul’s literally disgusting vlog, let me fill you in. On New Year’s Eve Logan uploaded a vlog of him and his friends going into Aokigahara, or most famously known as the “Suicide Forest”- where a lot of people go to die in peace, to camp out. The video starts with this dramatic intro and he says that it is not clickbait but he uses the dead man’s body as the thumbnail? He and his friends are walking through the forest and they find a person who has clearly just hung himself, and a normal reaction to seeing a dead body should be to call the authorities, right? No, Logan’s first reaction was to tell his friends to grab his camera. He and his friends acted surprised that they found the man, although they are in a place notoriously known for people going to die in peace. He starts filming the guy and yells “Hey, are you messing with us?!” Logan could easily have run back to the parking lot, which was only 100 yards away, to get help. Instead he moves closer to get a good view of the body for the camera. And he thinks it’s okay because they blurred out the person’s face. It’s clear that Logan is filming this man for views, he had no respect for the man nor any desire to get him help until after he got his content, then and only then did he decided that maybe it would be a good idea to call the authorities. The worst part is he’s making jokes about it. His friend says that he doesn’t feel good about the situation. Logan says “What, you never stand next to a dead guy before?” and just laughs. A person takes their own life and this boy makes it into a joke. This is one of the most disrespectful things he could have done, but he’s too immature and immoral to understand that. The responsible thing to do would have been to turn away the camera and call the police. Logan is 22 years old, he can’t say that he didn’t realize his video was inappropriate. And of his viewers are literally children who aren’t any older than 13. Impressionable children who are going to  think insensitive and disrespectful stuff like this is okay because a YouTuber did it. Overall, Logan Paul is literal trash.

We can all agree that the internet is a part of daily life. If you haven’t heard, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Ajit Pai, is trying to destroy Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is our right to communicate freely through the internet. Service providers can’t speed up or slow down any website, content, or application. Like how they can’t pick and choose who you call or text. Net Neutrality is a set of rules that keep the internet free and open, allowing you to share and access information of your choosing without interference. Without Net Neutrality, there is no internet. This is a HUGE deal. Our free access to the web will be taken away. It only takes three of the five commission members to decide whether or not it goes through. It is to be decided on December 14, 2017. If Pai decides to repeal Net Neutrality the internet will never be the same!

Our generation has grown around the internet, everything we do now in school and our socially is now on the internet. Education has turned to the internet so students may have easier access to content and topics they are focusing on. Internet access is a necessity in college and everyday working life. So, you’re telling me I have to pay even more on top of my tuition just to have access to websites I need in order to pass the class? No thanks. Applications for jobs, schools, and many resourceful things. Net Neutrality is crucial for small business owners, startups and entrepreneurs, who rely on the open internet to launch their businesses, create markets, advertise their products and services, and reach customers. It makes no sense to take that privilege away from us. It makes life more difficult for everyone. If it is passed, your service provider gets to choose what you CAN access and what you CAN’T. It would come in a monthly plan, where you would have to pay extra on top of your phone bill. Why would I pay extra just so I can go on Instagram and Twitter? I have to pay to tweet now? It’s ridiculous! It’s free now, keep it free.

America has been in this situation before, we fought for our right to free access to the internet, in which we won Net Neutrality. Now, they are trying to repeal it for no good reason. It’s like picking at a scab, DON’T PICK AT IT. Why do these old people have a say in MY future? The FCC is considering a decision that will severely and negatively impact my future, and half of their own. It adds to the list of unnecessary doings after Trump was elected. They need to consider the what ifs, the what will happen if it goes through. Sadly, I feel as if they would only choose what appeals to their own good and not that of others. It’s upsetting to think, that this issue is being politicized, when there are many ongoing issues that need this amount of attention. Our people have used social media to raise awareness in what we can do to #SAVETHENET.

I’ll get right to it, I support Planned Parenthood. Before I start laying down the logistics, here’s a fun fact: Planned Parenthood isn’t just abortions! Now you’re probably wondering, “Then what is it?”

It’s actually a nonprofit organization that supplies reproductive and related health services to men, women, and young adults while also providing important sex education. Yes, these health services do include abortion and I’m all for it. No, I’m not a murderer nor am I a supporter of murder.

“But that’s what abortion is!!!” The reality is that the majority of abortions are performed during the first trimester of a pregnancy, when the embryo hasn’t fully developed. Even at five weeks the embryo is barely the size of a single grain of rice, not a clump or bowl of rice, a single grain. What gets iffy are the abortions that happen once the embryo is identified as a fetus. This development happens two months after conception but these procedures during this time period are usually emergencies.

Women don’t go to Planned Parenthood for fun. No one wakes up and thinks, “I haven’t gotten an abortion in a while, I’ll go today.” It’s not Target. Those who choose to have one can be financially unstable, unwilling to be a single mother, or there’s a high chance of birth defects. Whatever the reason, they don’t owe anyone an explanation.

Why not just give up the baby for adoption? Here’s the truth about adoption: in 2015 there were around 397,122 children in the U.S. that were circulating around the foster care system and didn’t have permanent homes or families, and the numbers have gone up since then. By not allowing women to get an abortion, you’re forcing her to be pregnant and deliver just to raise the number of unadopted children every year.

We all know now that I’m pro-choice, in support of abortions, but do you know who isn’t? The Trump Administration. In October 2017, they proposed a new rule to eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s requirement for all insurance plans to cover the cost of birth control without a co-pay and take away federal funds to Planned Parenthood.

This makes getting abortions a lot more expensive and a lot less accessible. Women desperate enough will take extreme measures to perform their own unhygienic abortions that could lead to infections and sickness that could have been easily prevented.

Not only will abortion services be scarce, but so will the several other reproductive services Planned Parenthood offers. They offer multiple forms of birth control, such as pills, IUD, or NuvaRing, to accommodate everyone’s preference. They also have STD and pregnancy testing, and men’s and women’s health services in addressing cancer, fertility, sexual dysfunction, pelvic exams, and routine checkups.

You want to defund Planned Parenthood because you’re against abortions? Here’s a thing to try: don’t get one. Don’t take away someone else’s choice to get or not get one. Nor should you try to up the prices of the numerous and important services that Planned Parenthood has to offer people.

In the days leading up to Christmas, it is custom for people around the world to buy trees, send cards, and sell their souls for whatever mainstream gadget is on the market. Once all of the gifts are opened, the rest of the day is pretty anticlimactic. Are you a better person now that you have that designer purse? Does an eight year old really need an iPad? (Kids basically become zombies with weak social skills but that is a whole different conversation.) I am not saying that I am not a part of the consumer frenzy of the holidays, however, I think it is time to assess how Christmas has changed to become a national hallmark of materialism.

Christmas is the ultimate excuse to fill the materialistic void with all of the deals that flood our email inboxes. It is typically the “largest economic stimulus” as sales increase dramatically in almost all retail areas. According to a 2016 Statistica survey, 29 percent of respondents stated that they expected to spend over 500 U.S. dollars on gifts for the holiday season. This is disappointing because after the gifts are opened, they quickly lose their meaning as we run back to the mall for the New Years Deals. Then the cycle starts all over. As a society, we are in an endless loop of wanting more and more. I realize that I am generalizing, but our economy and people’s livelihoods depend, in part, on this insatiable cycle.

In general, Christmas has strayed away from its traditional Christian roots to represent a more secular holiday of celebration. But whether Christian or not, gifts are a staple of any household. We are set on the mentality that Christmas isn’t Christmas unless there are gifts under the tree. The little things like spending time with loved ones and watching sappy movies are overshadowed by the gifts.

With all of that said, I do not think that there is anything wrong with wanting to surprise family and friends. It is a great feeling to see everyone’s faces light up with excitement on Christmas morning. I am just hoping that people will reflect on what this special time of year is really all about: family, food, and Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas.”

Being a sixteen year old girl, it is hard for me to go out at night and stay out past dark. During the summer, there is still light outside around 8 p.m. This whole time change does have major flaws and some advantages, although the advantages are more for some of us lazy peeps. Many of us, I know, struggle with getting out of bed in the morning. It’s harder to wake up when the mornings now seem so gloomy, and I wake up to a really depressing night sky after my evening nap. Apart from the one hour taken away from my glorious sleep schedule, I have less time to finish my daily chores.

For the majority of people, our schedules consist of waking up early going to school and after school attending various activities that depend on the sun’s rays of light. By the time that we get out of school, the sun seems to shine as if it were five in the afternoon in the summer. By the time you get home, there are chores that need to be done, other activities to accomplish and places to go. Some high school students do not drive yet, so we have to take other sorts of transportation and this makes it dangerous because you never know what you may encounter on this small “adventure.”

Long Beach isn’t the safest city, including this area in which Poly lives. Nowadays even going to a store on the corner is dangerous. This issue of violence changes many things and affects us all in many aspects. Parents now are not letting their children go out and honestly, I agree with this matter. When a parent tells you, “Don’t go out after 7,” or even, “ I want you home by 6,” it doesn’t mean that they don’t want you to be going out with friends or they don’t want you to be enjoying your life, but they are trying to prevent things that may happen.

At the end, yes we may not be able to change the time back, all we can do is wait. All there is left to say is be careful because we all know that we live in a pretty messed up world and no one knows what awaits for us outside our door.

Recycling has become a big issue in the 21st century. Americans produce an average of 4.4 pounds of trash per person every day while the rest of the world produces only 2.6 pounds of trash per person. Out of the 254 million tons of trash produced by Americans in 2013, only 87 million tons were recycled. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable yet only 30% is thrown into a recycle bin. This has caused a need for increase in recycling programs at schools around the country.

However, I still continue to notice problems at Poly when it comes to recycling and campus cleanliness. It frustrates me that there are no recycling bins in the quad. Think of all the items that could be recycled but are thrown into garbage bins, contributing to the 254 million tons of trash that we Americans produce every year.

This is not Poly’s fault alone. LBUSD does not provide funding for the blue recycling bins in select classrooms, said Libby Huff, the PacRim business teacher. The National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) paid for the blue bins and Huff said the cost was about $1,000.

LBUSD does not provide funding to its schools for recycling. Janitors are not paid to take care of school recycling. Recycling on campus is completely up to the students and the staff.

One frustrating thing about the recycling on campus is that only paper, bottles, and aluminum cans can be placed in the bins. Think of the other items that could be recycled, such as plastic bags, styrofoam, milk cartons, and plastic containers. Long Beach takes all of these items through their recycling program. So why are we only allowed to recycle cans, bottles, and paper at school?

It is very disappointing to hear that the district does not provide recycling funds to schools. I understand that they have a lot of expenses, but the environment is more important than those fancy Chromebooks students, including myself, are using.

Instead of buying all those laptops, why not use the money to provide recycling bins and programs to all the schools in the district? Why are more teachers not interested in getting involved with recycling at school?

We have environmental science teachers who lecture about the environment, air pollutants, trash, and global warming, yet our school is still far from being a clean and environmentally friendly campus. Practice what you preach!

Last year, sophomore Cosmo Hebert and I tried to make a change in the school concerning the use of plastic straws in the student store. We wanted to replace them with paper straws.

I know what you are thinking, “How could the straw not get all soggy and gross.” The company Aardvark makes paper straws that are durable and are environmentally friendly. We went to the student store armed with straw samples and pricing. Unfortunately, the student store was uninterested and the idea of paper straws did not get started. The paper straws only sell for about 2 cents more than plastic straws. The drinks that are sold with a plastic straw retail for $1.

We also wanted to get styrofoam cups banned from the student store. The student store now uses paper cups, because of a district-wide ban. Although these paper cups are still not the most environmentally friendly it is a step in the right direction.

I want the students of Poly to speak up if this concerns them too and talk to the principals and teachers about this.

Many students here at Poly like to order food and have it delivered to the school for lunch. More of the freshmen and sophomores don’t know that students can’t order food. The fact is that students like to use Postmates, Uber eats, and Grubhub. I’ve noticed some things change since I’ve been here at Poly. When I was a freshman we were able to order food and have it delivered. Over the school years it stopped. Junior Anthony Castaneda said “It’s dumb they don’t let us order food, they swear they food good. Their food taste like dog food and they have no reason to not let us order because it ain’t even bothering them.” So he is not too happy with students not being able to order. Neither am I, I don’t see why we can’t order food. Some students don’t like school food and choose not to eat it. Some students have dietary restriction and can’t eat school food. That’s where Uber eats, Postmates, and Grubhub come into play.

There are good outcomes to allowing us to have food delivered at lunch. On one hand, students can enjoy eating good food with their friends. They’re also getting a meal of their choice and not starving themselves.

I, for one, believe we should still be allowed to order food because, just as Anthony Castaneda said, “It ain’t even bothering them.” All we want is to enjoy a good meal to fill us up at lunch. Most students oppose the restriction; they believe we should be able to order food at lunch. Some students have a lunch pass, which allows them leave campus at lunch to go somewhere to get food. Most students, however, can’t leave at lunch, so they should at least have the option to order food.

Another reason Long Beach Poly should let kids order is because, parents are always saying “Make sure you eat while you’re at school,” but if some students don’t have a PIN number to eat and doesn’t like school food they should have an alternative option.

Romantic comedies make men stupid. Picture your favorite rom-com. Guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, girl is either engaged, married, or just not interested. A normal, sane man would just accept this as a fact and move on, but a movie man won’t.

A movie man will go to great lengths for the girl to ditch her current love interest to be with him. He’ll play music really loud outside of her house early in the A.M. He’ll buy a nonrefundable plane ticket to catch her before her wedding to win her back with a song he wrote on the cab ride there. These men are creeps to the extreme and we root for them!

And they get the girl!

Films and TV shows like that have created a generation of men who just expect women to give into their perverted advances.

Women aren’t excluded from this either. Take Julia Robert’s character from My Best Friend’s Wedding. Her best friend, a man, was engaged and she does everything in her power to humiliate his fiance and ruin the wedding, and when that doesn’t work, she confesses her feelings the day before the wedding.

Hollywood has invented “the friend zone” where people pity themselves because the person they have feelings for only sees them as a friend. They actually get angry and degrade women for not being attracted to them. News flash, you are not entitled to anything from me and I am not stuck up for not wanting to hook up with a guy just because he’s been a good companion to me.

For most people, the point of friendship is to be friends, not to eventually get into someone’s pants – that is so messed up.

I’m sick of it. I don’t care what the situation is, if they are taken, or do not want you in any way, give up. Romantic films make zero sense in the reality of dating.

There is a scene in the Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo and Princess Leia have a moment, and he goes in to kiss her. She tells him three times to stop. Does he? No, he grabs her arm, which she said hurt, and he forced a kiss. They go on to have a long and loving relationship after that for some reason. If that were to happen today, in the real world, things would have ended very differently. Young people look up to these characters and consider everything they do to be golden, which isn’t the case in these so called classics. We may think we’ve improved over time, but we haven’t.

The fault in our Stars tells the same story, just sadder. Hazel Grace repeatedly tells Gus that he is just her friend, and he still continuously flirts with her, takes her on picnics, and to freaking Amsterdam! In the beginning, she is obviously uncomfortable with these advances, even if it all worked out in the end.

Do not under any circumstances take a person you’ve only known for a few months to a foreign country just to get laid! I should not have to say this.